Privilege in investigations

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Peter Jones,Partner at Eversheds Sutherland (International)LLP –Peter acted for the Serious Fraud Office against ENRC where there was a ground breaking judgment on the limits of privilege. Peter will be discussing the case and the impact of the judgment on internal investigations.

11.40

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12.00

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Speakers

Ben Henry, Jonas Roy Jones -Ben is ranked as a leading lawyer in both Chambers and the Legal 500. He acts in all areas of corporate and white-collar crime, including fraud, bribery, corruption and money laundering. He is currently acting in a number of large and high-profile SFO and HMRC investigations and prosecutions, involving clients based in the UK and abroad. Often this work is for directors and owners of significant businesses. Much of Ben's work involves liaising with teams of lawyers in other disciplines and across different jurisdictions. His strategic strengths and cross-border work are recognised by the leading legal directories. Ben has been a partner at the firm since 2008.

Peter Watkin Jones has been a partner in Eversheds Sutherland for over 30 years, with a background as a commercial litigant in the public sector. He was the head of the commercial litigation departments at the Cardiff, Birmingham and Nottingham offices until May of last year. He is also the head of the firm’s Inquiries and Investigations team, and has led large teams of lawyers running public inquiries for government. These include the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the Shipman Inquiry, the Rosemary Nelson inquiry, the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry and the Independent Jersey Care inquiry. He also leads teams representing parties before the Grenfell Tower inquiry, the IICSA inquiry into child abuse, and the Edinburgh tram inquiry.

This work has frequently involved Peter and his team grappling with issues of legal professional privilege, and the tension between an inquiry / regulator’s wish to see privileged material, and the refusal of a party to provide it under an assertion of either litigation privilege or legal advice privilege.

Peter and his team was instructed by the Serious Fraud Office to act in its case against ENRC where there was a ground breaking judgment given by Andrews J on the limits of privilege within the context of anticipated litigation, and internal investigations. That case has now been subjected to analysis by subsequent cases, and is itself proceeding to appeal later in 2018.